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“No, I think it’s all an individual sport,” Jannik Sinner says, chuckling quietly, as he reflects on another triumphant fortnight at the Miami Open after his efficient win over Jiri Lehecka. Sinner had been asked whether he was aware that his win meant the maintenance of one of the defining records of this new era of men’s tennis: since the Madrid Open in April 2024, every tournament with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz present has been won by either player. The duopoly continues.

Unsurprisingly, Sinner was far more focused on what the victory meant to him. By following his Indian Wells triumph with a title in Miami, he secured one of the greatest achievements of his career in the Sunshine Double. He has now won three consecutive Masters 1000 titles and 34 consecutive sets at this level. This was an immense feat, further underlining his enduring dominance over all challengers aside from his great rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

This victory came after a rare moment of tension at the start of this season after his loss in the semi-finals of the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic and in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open against Jakub Mensik.

Sinner took those defeats on the chin and responded correctly. He and his team opted to travel immediately to California from Doha for an extended training block before the US hard courts. They worked hard in suffocating conditions in order to better adapt to hot conditions and improve his all-round game. The fruits of that labour has been evident all month.

“There is no secret behind [it],” he says. “There is just hard work and that’s it. It has been quite long now outside of Europe for me, playing Doha, so I’m also happy to go back [home].”

Sinner is correct in stressing the intensely individual nature of this sport, but the rest of the field has the misfortune of having to get past two future all-time greats at every event. Three months into this year, one of the biggest surprises is that Sinner and Alcaraz have not faced each other once.

Regardless, the winners of the biggest tournaments have been the same two players. Even when one of the top two lose early, the likelihood of both players being outplayed in the same tournament remains low. The gap between them and the rest of the field continues to widen.

One day earlier, Aryna Sabalenka set the tone for a historic weekend in Miami by pulling off an identical achievement but under completely different circumstances. Sabalenka has taken her consistency to even greater heights at the start of this year, winning 23 of her first 24 matches of the season. However, her Sunshine Double was achieved under completely different circumstances.

The WTA top 10 has not been this strong and competitive in many years and each of the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami finals have been decided in excellent three-set scraps between top-four players. After saving a match point to defeat Elena Rybakina in a final-set tie-break at Indian Wells, Sabalenka edged past Coco Gauff in Miami.

Sabalenka has developed her game and mental approach spectacularly over the past few years, but she is still prone to tension and losing composure in the decisive moments of big finals, as was the case against Rybakina at the Australian Open in January and against Gauff at the French Open last year. The defeat in Melbourne prompted many discussions between Sabalenka and her team regarding her mental frailty in these moments. They decided that, when feeling uncertain deep in these battles with her biggest rivals, the path forward was to constantly remind herself exactly who she is.

“Whenever I felt like doubting my ability, I was bringing myself back and reminding myself, ‘No, no, no, no, no. You’re strong enough to get this,’” she says.

There is no doubt that Sabalenka is the best player in the world and she has built an immense resume with four grand slam titles, 11 WTA 1000 titles and 84 weeks at No 1. She will almost certainly become the second female athlete in history to earn $50m prize money this year, only behind Serena Williams.

Sabalenka knows, however, that she is capable of achieving so much more and establishing herself alongside some of the legends of the game is a realistic goal. It remains to be seen whether her triumphs in March, and the confidence she demonstrated in two incredibly tough finals against two of her biggest rivals, represent two significant steps towards those lofty goals,

There is no tournament like Miami, which attracts such a diverse international crowd and remains the closest thing to a home tournament for so many Latin American players, whose matches generate some of the best atmospheres in the sport. The vibes are supreme. Still, once widely known as the fifth slam, it is difficult to ignore its waning profile when strolling the grounds.

The event’s status on the tour has been affected by the growth of Indian Wells and, more recently, the conversion of most other Masters 1000 events into mixed gender two-week events. Its biggest issue, however, is its miserable temporary venue around the Miami Dolphins NFL team’s Hard Rock Stadium, including a main stadium court built inside a corner of the football venue itself. It is the worst stadium on tour and matches are almost unwatchable from the permanent side of the arena due to the court being so far away.

As the tour heads to Europe for the red clay season, there are ample questions surrounding the top players of the world, but also of one of the tour’s most historic events in this ever-changing tennis landscape.